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Great Opportunity for a Summer Excavation Experience!

by Chris McKinny

Aren Maeir has just released an announcement that the Ackerman family of South Africa will now be funding 20 fellowships for this upcoming summer season at Tell es-Safi/Gath. This is great news for anyone interested in participating in an archaeological investigation!

Announcement:

Thanks to the generous funding of the Ackerman family of South Africa, we hereby are happy to announce an exciting new fellowship for students from all over the world, to assist in participation in the 2015 season of excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel.The fellowship (approximately 20 will be awarded), will cover the R&B costs for the entire 2015 season at the excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath. Fellows will have to cover their travel expenses to and from Israel, and all expenses in Israel incurred not during the excavation itself (including costs of weekends during the dig).

You can read about the rest of the details here. This is a rare opportunity to spend a summer at one of the most important Bronze and Iron Age sites in Israel!

Weekend Roundup

A Digital Reconstruction of the Northwest Palace at Nimrud, Assyria is a 3-minute video posted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s very good.

Steve Green’s museum in Washington, DC now has a name: museum of the Bible.

Some of Josephus’s works are available in audio format for free.

Shimon Gibson and James D. Tabor summarize their 2014 excavations on Mount Zion.

The Times of Israel: “Beneath the houses of Old Jerusalem’s Cotton Market neighborhood, a massive series of ancient buildings excavated by Israeli archaeologists is set to open to the public.”

ArtDaily: “The huge flat-topped rock on which the ancient Parthenon sits in the centre of Athens is starting to give way.”

Haaretz reports on large-scale animal sacrifice related to the Early Bronze temples at Megiddo.

Science 2.0: The enemy of archaeology is not people, it’s salt.

A Polish team has begun a new archaeological project near Tafilah in southern Jordan.

Filming has begun for a movie about four women whose lives intersect in the siege of Masada. “The Dovekeepers” is being produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett and is based on a historical novel by Alice Hoffman.

HT: Ted Weis, Agade, Joseph Lauer

The area of Tafileh, Jordan
Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands

Tagged Excavations, Greece, Jerusalem, Jezreel Valley, Jordan Rift, Mesopotamia, Museums, Resources, Technology, Weekend Roundup

Modern Place Names and the Bible

A family member asked me for a brief list of major regions in the biblical world that are mentioned in the news today by other names. Since most Bible dictionaries do not have entries for the modern names, this list is intended to bridge that gap. With the ancient names in hand, you can consult a Bible dictionary for more details.

Iraq – ancient Assyria (northern Iraq) and Babylon (southern Iraq). Assyria conquered the ten tribes of the north, and Babylon conquered Judah and Jerusalem.

Iran – ancient Persia. Setting of familiar stories of Daniel in the lions’ den and Esther.

Syria – ancient Aram. Rarely united in ancient times, leading to multiple Aramean countries. The prominent one in the Bible was centered in Damascus.

Lebanon – home of the biblical cities of Tyre and Sidon and the ancient Phoenicians.

Jordan – settled in biblical times, from north to south, by Israel (tribes of Manasseh, Reuben, and Gad), Ammon, Moab, and Edom.

West Bank – the modern name for the biblical lands of Judah (Judea), Ephraim, and Manasseh (Samaria). Strangely enough, the Israelis today do not live in most of the land that was the heartland of ancient Israel.

Gaza Strip – once was part of the land of the Philistines (no relation to the Palestinians of today except in name). Most of the Philistine territory is inhabited by Jewish Israelis today, including the coastal cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon.

Golan Heights – biblical Bashan. Known for its cattle and oaks, but sparsely settled in the biblical period.

Turkey – in the Old Testament period this was home to a variety of people that are less directly related to the Bible (including the Hittites). In the New Testament times, Paul founded and worked with many churches, including those in Galatia, Ephesus, and Colossae.

Greece – Paul’s second missionary journey focused on Macedonia (northern Greece) and Achaia (southern Greece). Macedonia includes the cities of Philippi and Thessalonica, whereas Achaia includes Athens and Corinth.

Russia – this region is never named in the Bible. Some believe that references to the enemy in “the north” pertain to Russia, but I think this is unlikely. Because Israel was sandwiched between the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the Arabian desert to the east, invaders came from the south (Egypt) or the north (Assyria and Babylon).

Tagged Travels

New Evidence for AD 363 Earthquake at Hippos

From the Jerusalem Post:

University of Haifa archaeologists announced Monday that they have recently discovered items which have shed light on an earthquake that occurred in 363 CE in the ancient city of Hippos which overlooks the Sea of Galilee.
Hippos, near modern-day Kibbutz Ein Gev, was the site of a Greco-Roman city-state. Archaeologists digging at the Hippos excavation site, known as Susita in Hebrew, uncovered a woman’s skeleton and a gold dove-shaped pendant under the tiles of a collapsed roof. In addition, they found the marble leg of a statue and artillery from some 2,000 years ago.
“Finally the findings are coming together to form a clear historical-archaeological picture,” Dr. Michael Eisenberg, the head of the excavation said.
The excavation at the site has been ongoing for the past fifteen years. Hippos, which was founded in the second century BCE, was the site of two major, well-documented earthquakes, the first of which took place in 363 CE. The earthquake caused major damage but the city recovered. The second earthquake, in 749 CE, destroyed the city which was then abandoned, never to recover.

The full article includes photos. I don’t believe there is much dramatic archaeological evidence for the earthquake of 363, though according to fifth-century church historians, this earthquake ended efforts to build a third temple in Jerusalem. Wikipedia provides a few references. David B. Levenson recently published a more technical article in the Journal of Late Antiquity: “The Palestinian Earthquake of May 363 in Philostorgius, the Syriac Chronicon miscellaneum, and the Letter Attributed to Cyril on the Rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple.”

South Church of Hippos, destroyed by later earthquake
Photo from Galilee and the North

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee

Weekend Roundup

An Egyptian scarab with the name of Pharaoh Shishak has been discovered in the copper mines of Feinan in southern Jordan.

Has evidence of human sacrifice been uncovered near Amman, Jordan? Hershel Shanks presents the evidence and the debate.

Also in the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review: a survey of readers’ views of the Bible. The poll has one question and does not require registration.

ASOR is working with the State Department to identify and document destruction of ancient sites in Syria.

Dura Europos is reportedly suffering severe looting under the control of ISIS and archaeologists fear for the world’s oldest synagogue located there.

The new director of the Louvre plans to give the museum a makeover that may take decades.

Charles Savelle shares a chart comparing the crossing of the Red Sea with that of the Jordan River. I would add one more contrast: Enemies behind vs. Enemies ahead. (One of those requires more faith!)

Gordon Franz’s article on Ancient Harbors of the Sea of Galilee is now online.

Ferrell Jenkins notes that Daniel I. Block’s book, Israel: Ancient Kingdom or Late Invention? is deeply discounted for Kindle for a short time.

Martin Klingbeil will be lecturing at Southern Adventist University on “Excavating War and Destruction in Ancient Judah” on Oct. 6 at 7 p.m.

Nyack College in partnership with the Center for the Study of Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins is hosting a conference on “Unearthing Magdala” on October 20.

David Eitam will be lecturing at Yeshiva University on Monday, September 29 on “The Oil Enterprise at 7th Century BCE City-Kingdom of Ekron, Philistia: A Window into an Ancient
Levantine Economy.”

HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade

Hippos harbor looking south, tb101399201

Remains of the harbor of Hippos on the Sea of Galilee
Photo from Galilee and the North

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee, Jordan, Jordan Rift, Lectures, Museums, Syria, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Artifact of the Month: Stela of Zakkur

(Posted by Michael J. Caba)

This inscribed basalt slab is known as the Stela of Zakkur. It refers to the Aramaic king Hazael who is also referred to in the Bible in such passages as 1 Kings 19:15. The item was discovered in 1903 at Tel Afis in Syria and dates to approximately 800 BC. The artifact is about 24 inches tall and the language is Aramaic. It is now located in the Louvre.

Of interest to historical studies is the interplay of the biblical text and this stela. To begin with, 1 Kings 19:15 says, “The Lord said to him [Elijah], ‘Go back the way you came and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram . . .'” (NIV). In comparison to this, the text on the stela reads, “I am Kakkur, king of Hamath and Luash . . Bar-Hadad, son of Hazael, king of Aram, united against me seventeen kings . . .”

In effect, we have a web of connections linking Yahweh, Elijah, the Bible, Hazael, and this stela.

For information on similar artifacts related to the Bible, see Bible and Archaeology – Online Museum.

(Photo: BiblePlaces.com. Significant resource for further study: The Context of Scripture, volume 2, page 155.)